Ms. Zhang Guihua from Xinhua County, Hunan Province, Arrested and Tortured

Ms. Zhang Guihua from the Yuanzhuling Community in Shangmei Town, Xinhua County, Hunan Province, was arrested on March 20th, 2012, by plainclothes officers from the county's Domestic Security Division as she was distributing materials exposing the persecution of Falun Gong.

When Ms. Zhang was interrogated, division head Wang Hui and three other officers took turns to physically abuse her. They slapped her in the face and whipped her face and mouth with a wet cloth. They only stopped torturing her when they got tired and their hands hurt. Ms. Zhang's face was severely bruised and she was dazed.

Police ransacked Ms. Zhang's home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, and informational materials. Ms. Zhang was taken to a detention centre that same day and later to Baimalong Women's Forced Labour Camp in Zhuzhou on March 31st for a one-year term.

Due to the physical and mental torture that Ms. Zhang endured in the detention centre, when labour camp officials examined her, they found that she had high blood pressure and heart problems. They refused to accept her, so she was returned to Xinhua that evening and held in the detention centre.

The following day, Cao Wen from the Domestic Security Division extorted 6,000 yuan¹ from Ms. Zhang's daughter to secure her mother's release. Cao told her to go to Baimalong Forced Labour Camp to collect her mother on April 4. Ms. Zhang's daughter and her five-month-old baby took a overnight train to go to the labour camp, only to be told that Ms. Zhang had already been released.

Note

1. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.